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“There’s a coffee shop a few blocks up, if that’s okay.”
“Sure.” Tyler started the car, pulled out of the parking lot and headed in the direction she’d pointed. A nearby commercial district had restaurants and coffee shops where they could sit down and talk. Considering the state of her stomach, she would pass on the food, but she could get some hot tea. And maybe, if that went okay, a scone.
They didn’t speak in the car on the way there, which was odd for them. They always had a million things to catch up on. They could talk for hours about anything and everything. Now, as she feared, there was tension between them. Sex changed things, as she’d known it would. She’d never wanted their relationship to cross that line for that very reason.
She sighed and looked out the window instead. There would be plenty of things to say, but she could tell neither of them w
as ready to say them. He’d just found out he was going to be a father. That needed time to sink in. Tyler had never mentioned having an interest in a family—at least, not since he’d broken up with Christine. After that, he’d focused 100 percent on business. This had to be an unexpected blow for him. Amelia had always known she wanted children, but it had still been a shock for her.
Eventually, they arrived at the small independent coffee shop. He opened her door, helped her out and then followed her inside. Tyler bought them both drinks and got himself a giant cinnamon roll while Amelia found a plush couch in the corner away from the others in the shop.
Tyler came over a few minutes later with their things on a tray. He put the drinks on the coffee table and sat beside her. His knee barely grazed hers as he did, but even that simple touch was enough to awaken her nervous system. It was the first time they’d touched since that night. Being in such close proximity to him again was confusing. Her body remembered his touch, aching to lean closer to him and feel his hands on her again. Her brain knew it was a bad idea, but she didn’t want to act childish. It was a simple touch, an innocent one. Just because her libido lit up like the skies on the Fourth of July didn’t mean it meant anything.
Amelia busied herself preparing her tea and distracting herself from Tyler’s nearness. She added a pack of raw sugar and stirred it, waiting for him to say something. She’d already said enough. Now it was his turn.
“So,” he began, after a few bites of cinnamon roll and a sip of his coffee, “do you want to tell your parents first, or mine?”
She tried not to choke on her tea. That was not where she’d expected him to go with this. “Tell them what, exactly?”
“That we’ve gotten married and we’re expecting a baby.”
She shook her head furiously. He must still be in shock. “Neither.”
Tyler frowned at her. “We have to tell them eventually. We can’t just show up at their house with an infant and say, ‘Here’s your grandchild.’”
“I know that,” she argued. “We will have to tell them about the baby eventually. I meant about the wedding. I don’t see why anyone needs to know about it if we’re just going to file for divorce anyway. I’d rather my father not know what we did, to be honest. You know how he is. The only reason he let me go to college in Tennessee was because my grandparents live here. He’s just waiting for me to get into some kind of trouble so he can point out he was right.”
Tyler nodded thoughtfully. “I understand your concerns. I wasn’t planning on telling my family about the wedding, either. I mean, I came to Nashville so we could get the ball rolling on the divorce. But...everything is different now.”
She flinched. “How? How is everything different now?”
“We’re going to have a baby together,” he said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I know we’ve got to work out the logistics, but starting a family is a complicated thing.”
“A f-family?” she stuttered, a feeling of dread pooling in her stomach.
“Well, yeah. I mean, obviously, since you’re pregnant with my child, the divorce is off the table.”
* * *
Amelia’s face flushed as red as her hair, and Tyler knew immediately that he’d said the wrong thing. Or at least, he’d said it in the wrong way. He knew he was right about what they needed to do. Convincing her would take more finessing than just blurting it out the way he had. Amelia didn’t take well to being told what to do. Good job, Dixon.
“Divorce is off the table,” she mimicked with a bitter tone. “You act as though you’re the only one with any say in the matter. I know you’re Mr. Big Shot and you’re used to your word being law, but you aren’t the boss of me, Tyler. You can’t bully me into staying married to you.”
“Of course I’m not the only one with a say,” he soothed. “And I’m not bullying you. As if I even could. You’re the most stubborn woman I know. But we have a child to consider now. What about the baby?”
The baby. Tyler could barely believe he was saying those words out loud. After his engagement with Christine had ended, he’d told himself that he wasn’t going through all that again. The joy and high of love weren’t worth the inevitable crash and destruction at the end. He’d shelved the idea of anything more complicated than sex and focused on his work. Business came a lot easier to him than romance.
That meant that any idea of marriage or family had been put to bed, as well. He’d been okay with that. How were a wife and a family even possible when he was jetting from one place to another and working long hours? He had five siblings to carry on the family name and give his parents the grandchildren they craved. No one would miss his genetic contribution to the world.
And yet, faced with the eventuality of a family, he found the idea didn’t bother him as much as he thought it would. The image of a rambunctious toddler with wild red curls running through the coffee shop formed in his mind. It was so real, he could almost reach out and snatch the giggling child up into his arms. He suddenly wanted that, down to the depths of his soul. When Amelia had told him, he’d been startled, of course, but now he knew what had to be done.
Tyler had been given the chance to have the family he hadn’t realized he wanted, and perhaps he could keep his heart from being destroyed a second time. He was having a child with his best friend. That child needed a stable, loving home, and he and Amelia could provide that. Why would they divorce now?
Amelia’s gaze fixed on his. “What about the baby?” she asked. “You know I’m not the kind of woman that would insist on getting married to someone I didn’t love just because I got pregnant. Why would I insist on staying married to someone I didn’t love just because I got pregnant?”
Tyler tried not to be offended. This wasn’t about him, and he knew that. And he knew that she loved him. She just wasn’t in love with him. He wasn’t in love with her, either. But they could make this work. They had affection, mutual respect and history. Some shotgun marriages started with less. “I know that our marriage and our child are not what you have down in your big notebook of life plans. But don’t you think it’s at least worth giving our relationship a try, for our baby’s sake?”
“Why can’t we just be friends with a baby? We can raise it together. If you’re in Nashville, it makes things easier, but we can do it. We don’t have to be married to have this baby. We don’t have to pretend that our wedding night meant more than it did just because I got pregnant.”
